Bed-rail fastener



Patented Jan. 15, 1929.

anon J. Swanson, or nocxronn, rumors.

BED-RAIL FASTENER.

Application filed April 13, 1927. Serial No. 183,281.

This invention relates to furniture construction generally and has particular reference to an improved bed rail fastener, one which in contra-distinction to presentt-ypes of fasteners will not weaken the post by reason of the manner of its application thereto, or impose a strain on the bed post apt to crack or break the same, but instead, actually reinforces the post, will not tend to loosen in service and cause the bed to wobble and rattle, but

instead, furnishes a definite live tension to firmly bind the parts together, and is further more adjustable to give the desired tightness in case the parts have become worn by repeated fastening and unfastening of the bed rail or in case the parts have not been fittedin the first instance.

According to the present invention, a plate is fastened to the side of the bed post against which the end of the side rail abuts, the plate properly a being provided with two ormore keyhole slots for the reception of the headed ends of bolts 1 extending from the end of the side rail, and

the plate being furthermore indented at the small ends of the slots to afford a certain resilience in the plate where the heads of the bolts will have wedging engagement as they are sunk home in the slots when the side rail is attached to the post. The fastening of the plate to the side of the post reinforces instead of weakening the same, and by reason of the fact that the plate bears the brunt of the load, there is no tendency for the post to crack or break under the strains of service as was otherwise frequently the ease. The resilience in the indented portions of the plate affords suflicient yield between the parts that they may be forced into much tighter and more firm engagement than would be permitted if the parts had ordinary deadlocking engagement. The adjustability of the bolts makes possible a firm connection irrespective of whether the parts have become worn or whether there has been a slight discrepancy in the assembling at the factory, either or both of which matters were without remedy in the case of the present standard type of bed rail fasteners.

In addition to the advantages hereinbefore recited, the fastener of the present invention by reason of the manner of the application of the plate to the bed post, affords the further advantage that it serves to anchor the foot panel tenon. Furthermorathe present fastener is so applied to the bed post that there is never any diiliculty arising from glue getting into the same from the glu'cing of the foot panel tenon in themort ise of the bed post. This was otherwise a very serious problem with the old type offastener where the slot in the bed post into which the plate on the side rail had to be entered to engage the lugs of the plate with the pins in the bed post was in direct communicationwith the mortise, and as a result, the glue frequently entered the slot and upon drying therein, closed the same and prevented the entry of the plate. y y y i The invent-ion is illustrated in theaccompanymg drawing, wherein Fig. lis a section through. the joint between a bed postand side rail showing my improved bed rail fastener in section. Fig. 2 is a view taken on theline 22 of Fig. 1, looking at the outside of the keyhole plate, and Fig. .3 is a horizontal section taken on the line3-3 of Fig. 2, showing how some of the screws fastening the keyhole plate to the bedpost serve to anchor the foot panel by passingithrough the tenon thereof. The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts in the three views.

While the present invention relates to a fastener especially designed and adapted for detachably securing together a side rail 5 to i the post6 of a bedstead, it will be obvious ,that the same is applicable to other uses wherever a similart peof detachable con- .nection is desired, an as a matter of fact, the invention is not limited to furniture conadvantage in this arrangement of the screws lies in the fact that the post and foot panel are thereby rigidly lockedtogether, as, will presently appear. The plate has two or more keyhole slots 10 punched therein, and

behind these slots the post 6 is suitably recessed as indicated at 11, to permit the entr through the slots ofthe heads of the bolts 12 which project from the end of the side rail 5 as shown. The bolts 12 are received in holes 13 drilled in from the end of the rail, intersecting the holes 14 opening from the inner side of the rail. Thus the bolts 12 when entered in the rail, thread into nuts 15 set in the holes 114, the nuts being concealed by plugs 16 closing the holes 14 in manner well known in this art. The bolts 12,.are, of course, spaced apart the same distancerasthe. keyhole slots 10 to have proper cooperation therewith, and are arranged to have th e heads thereof entered through the large ends of the slots, whereupon the bolts may be sunk. home into the small ends of the slots to securely join the rail to the post. Inorder that the joining together of the two parts may be attended with a certainamount-of yield in a resilient member to lirmlybind the parts togetherand ma e possible a better joint than would be permitted in the caseof parts interlit-ting with a deadlock, I have provided the plate with indentations indicated at 17 dentations can at the small ends of the keyhole slots. The indentations are transverse to the longitudinal plane of theplate and may be madeby dies suitably in the same operation when the keyhole slots are punched therein. The inse the small ends ofthe slots to be offset inwardly relative to the large ends and-the sides'of; the slotson the inner face of the plate are inclined with respect to the plane of the restof the plate as indicated at 18 from the large end tothe small end toward but ,not quite all the way, of the slots, there being fairly pronounced flat peak-portions for" the heads ofthe bolts to rideonto when the bolts reachtheends of the slots.-

the heads of the bolts when the latter are in y and rail together acts substantialfy atright angles tothe abutting surfaces.

Thus when the heads of the bolts areintrm H duc ed through the large ends "of the slots and the rail. is struck to sink the boltshome towards the small ends of-the' slots, the heads 'ride on the inclined faces 18 with wedging engagement. Obviously, the farther the bolts are sunk into the slots, tho-tighter the engagement of the rail with the post becomes, 1 and provided the bolts do not extend too far from the end of the rail, the parts may be drawn together with tremendous pressure.

. The indented portions of the plate will ob-H viouslydeflect slightly under this operation, and it is this feature which furnishesthe live tension in thelnterlocking engagement of the parts. The fact that the material ofthe plate is inclined in opposite directions from the srnall ends of the slots at substantially the same angle to the planenfthe rest of the plate definitely insures that the tension onposition at the sinall ends of the slots will be absolutely parallel and. substantially coincident with the longitudinal aXesfof-the bolts; in other words, the force holdin the post i It willbe apparent from the foregoingthat the ,presentjfastener in no way results in a weakeningof the bed post by reason of the manner of its application thereto, as was the case with the old type of;fastenenebut as a at the factory.

.plate therein to make connection extending CITOSSWISG'Of the slot. 1; In someinsimply because the. lodged 1 except with special tools.

sity .for the use tension, to bind the parts together, as distinguished from the deadlocking engagementraffordedrbyrthe old type. The adjustabihty of the bolts compensates for any amount of wear which may result through repeated fastening and nnfasteningof the bedrall and-m this way the. parts may be fastened together, regardless of how. long "they have been 1n service, or. even regardless of misfitting of the parts in the first instance It never becomes necessary for the dealer to make a return shipment because parts have been improperly fitted and will not go together. i The present invention permits of simple adjustment with theuse of a screw driver, and of course, any one of average metchanical skill and intelligencecan make the proper adjustment.

It willbe further noted that the recess 10 cut into the side of the bed post does not communicate with the mortise 119 provided in the adjacent side of the post forthereception of i the tenon 20 of the foot panel 21. As aresult,

there will be no trouble arising 1 from lglue used in the fasteningiofthe footpanel getting into the fastener. i In the old type oflfastener where the post had a slot cut into one side'for the reception of the plate on the end of; the siderail, the slot intersected the mortise, and .as aresult there was always apt to besome glue forced1 out "of the mortise :into the slot. This glue uponhardening closed the slot and it became impossible oftentimes to enter the with the pins stances the dealer was. forced to return the beds to the-factory for, this trivial reason,

glue could not be. dis- I prefer to have certainiof the screws 81of the one-row pass through the innerendaof the tenon 20 to anchor the same. This obviates the necesofinails or other. means which had to beprovided otherwise for that special purposel v'Where six screws are used, as indicated in Fig. 2, it will be agparent that there will be two or eventhree screws passing throughthe tenon in the manner indicated in Fig. so that the foot panel is very securely anchored.

It is believed that the foregoing description conveys a clear understanding of my inven tion and of its %objects and advantages.

"While thesame has been illustratediand described as applied to a specific embodiment for a specific purpose, it will. be understood thattheinvention is capable of modification,

andalso capable of other uses. 1 The appended claims are therefore drawn with a view to covering all legitimate modifications, adaptations and variations coming Within the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a furniture construction, means for detachably fastening together two members, such as a bed post and a side rail, said means comprising one or more headed studs pr0- jecting from the one member at right angles to the surface thereof, and a plate fixed to and substantially flush with the surface of the other member and having a corresponding number of substantially keyhole-shaped slots therein to receive the studs the said plate being formed with indentations at the slots to provide portions arranged to yield under Wedgingaction of the heads of the studs when the studs are sunk into place in the slots, the indentations having the greatest depth at the small ends of the slots to afford maximum tension on the heads when the studs are in that position the material of the plate being inclined in opposite directions from said points at substantiallfl the same angle to the plane of the rest of t when the latter are in position at the small ends of the slots will be in a line absolutel parallel and substantially coincident with the longitudinal axes of the studs.

2. A furniture construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein the studs are in the form of bolts threadedly enga ed in their member to permit adjustment in tile amount of extension of the heads from said member whereby to vary the degree to which the indented parts of the plate are flattened in the sinking of the bolts into place in the slots and accordingly vary the tension active on the heads of the bolts when the latter are in position at the small ends of the slots. i

In witness of the foregoing I afiix my signature.

BROR J SWANSON.

e plate so as to insure that the tension on the heads of the studs 

